A new paradigm for vj-ing with Modul8

Tag Archive: DMX

Yes, it’s been a little quiet on the blog front lately, so I though I’d give you a little teaser of what’s in development…

The new DMX sequencer, which is very lovely. Can sequence up to 512 channels with 2 levels of brightness. Uses the timecode protocol for the clock signal so requires either Gener8 or the Timecode module to run, which is great because this means you’ll also be able to sync it to midi clock.

Great for working with L.E.D.

Available in the online library already : )

In the brewing is an updated version which allows for full RGB output, and a more refined UI. I will give full instructions and perhaps a video when it’s available. : )

Today is the day for the latest incarnation of Gener8. Exciting new features. Bugs defeated. What more can you possibly want.

NEW FEATURES 0.62

LFO generator integrated into the Launchpad module.

DMX input & output triggers from the Launchpad.

Novation Launchpad S Support.

Novation Launchpad Mini Support.

New media select mode behaviour in Novation Launchpad. Now changes media of ‘selected’ Clips, rather than ‘active’. Active Clips can now have their media changes quantised by using the Novation Launchpad’s media mode.

FIXED BUGS

Korg NanoKontrol2 issue fixed – (I hope, cannot test yet – please feedback if this re-occurs. The Nano2 is not yet supported, but should not cause problems as did with version 0.60-0.61.)

MIDI clock now produces timecode correctly in Loop mode.

Zero Division Error’ in Editor module corrected. Mostly – there may be more situations which cause this.

It’s basically a router for applying the Global LFO output (from my LFO Global module) to DMX channels. Much like the other LFO routers I have written for Modul8 keywords/controllers.

For those of you who don’t know the LFO module and a still using the BPM router, it has 2 Low Frequency Oscillators (one of which can feed back into the other), and 1 BPM controlled waveform. All oscillators can produce a number of different waveforms (sine / tri / ramp / cut / square / random), and output the result through the sharedDictionary to other modules such as this new ‘LFO to DMX’ one. There’s even a version of the Filter module which accepts Global LFO inputs, so you can keep your whole composition synced to the same oscillations!

Now, I’m not a big (or small) user of DMX gear, and I don’t actually have any to hand (so I’m not even sure why I spent the afternoon putting this thing together). Therefore, I haven’t actually tested it on any proper lighting rig – but that said, I’m pretty confident it’s gonna do the job, as all the maths tests out okay. Just seemed like it should exist, so I made it. It would be pretty cool to get some feedback though, so if you fancy having a play around, please do let me know how it goes!

Aside from other distractions, over the last few months I’ve been building the next version of Gener8. Here are the plans for the next release:

Some of these features are planned, others are already working! Most of these will be implemented for version 0.6.

• Novation Launchpad support.
Launch clips directly from a Novation Launchpad! The layout of the Novation Launchpad was such a good match for Gener8’s Launchpad module that I simply had to try this – and it works really well.
View a bank of clips, one page at a time. Trigger them individually or by row with the Launchpad’s scene buttons. I’ve implemented some transport controls, tap time etc. too. This layout works in the Launchpads ‘User 2’ mode, allowing you to switch between Ableton Live control, and Gener8 simply.

• Faderfox Micromodul8 support.
The new dedicated MIDI controller for Modul8 by Faderfox will also be getting the Gener8 treatment. While the Faderfox is mostly suited to manipulating controllers for each layer, I will be integrating support for clip triggering.

• Syphon Input support for clips. Each Launchpad clip can be set to a specific syphon source, so you’ll be able to trigger your syphon input sources in time. (Modul8 version 2.7 required – currently still in beta)

Yes, a true timeline module at last…
There has been many posts written about building a timeline module for Modul8, and now I have a working implementation at last. This is the first concept so it’ll be interesting to see what everyone makes of it.

This module is a layer contextual module, which means that it will only show the data relevant to the focused layer. I’ve done this to keep the footprint down. The actual recording and playback is all handled by the Launchpad module. This timeline module simply allows for visualisation and editing.

I have actually been planning this timeline phase of Gener8 from nearly the beginning, and I’ve had a working sketch of this module for over a year. A timeline for live performance software is almost unnecessary, but from the standpoint of the Gener8 modules, it seemed like a logical progression. No doubt its form will develop in time too.

I’ve also been doing some serious bug fixing, rebuilding the core to improve clip transitions, and performance improvements too.

Release Date?

If all goes to plan I should have something ready for everyone to play with some time in April. No promises though.